JEFFERSON CITY – According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs data, Missouri employers added 27,500 jobs in the first quarter of 2012 – more than all of our neighboring states, the Missouri Department of Economic Development reported today.

Jobs data--jobs added or lost in the first quarter, January to March 2012--for states bordering Missouri are as follows: Arkansas, 4,800; Illinois, 22,000; Iowa, 9,900; Kansas, 12,300; Kentucky, 17,600; Nebraska, -500; Oklahoma, 14,800 and Tennessee, 17,800.

Of the total number of new jobs, Missouri manufacturers have added 7,000 new jobs in the first quarter of 2012.